Improvement in corn-harvesters



UNITED STATES PATENT GFFIGE.

LEONIDAS HAMILTON, OF PANORA, IOWA.

IMPROVEMENT IN CORN-HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 141,138, dated July 22, 1873 5 application filed May 10, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEONIDAS HAMILTON, of Panora, in the county of Guthrie and State of Iowa, have invented a new and valuable Improvement in Corn-Huskers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings making a part of this specification, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a representation of my improved eorn-husker by a plan View. Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the same through the feeding and nipping rollers and between the husking-rollers.

My invention relates to a corn-harvester which is operated in the field and on the standin g corn-stalks by horse-power. It consists of a forked guide for the corn-stalks, of a receiving and propelling roller with a flaring propeller-screw at the front, in combination with a nipping-roller for nipping off the ears, a series of propelling and stripping rollers arranged in pairs, and provided alternately with screw-shaped ribs and grooves and with strippin g-knives, an endless apron with steps or buckets for removing the stripped corn-ears, all these parts being arranged and operated on a wagon-frame. The object of my invention is to collect the corn-ears directly from the standing stalks in a corn-field and to deliver them husked by one machine and one operation. v This saves the expense of a cornharvester; it saves the labor of collecting and loading the stalks; it saves the labor of stripping the ears, of collecting them, and feeding them by hand into a stationary husking-machine.

In the drawings, A and B are the wheels, which support and operate the machine with the aid of an axle-tree, G, to which the framework is fastened, as also is the shaft D for the horses. Near the end, opposite the shaft D, a pair of parallel beams, E and F, are fastened to the axle-tree 0, between which the feed and nipping rollers G and H are inserted, with their front bearings on or near the lateral projections e and f of the said parallel beams. The beams E and F are provided at their front ends with guide-rods G and H, and the passage formed between them is contracted by the beveled shape of the projections e and f, so that the stalks can be brought within the sway of the receiving and propelling blade 7; on the roller I, which gradually diminishes into a screw-shaped groove, t". 1 The front part 70 of the roller K is smooth so far as the blade i is not contracted enough to get a firm hold on the stalks; but where the groove 7; begins, which compresses and propels the stalks, both rollers are fluted, including the groove 5, and there the nipping of the ears takes place, which is facilitated by making the roller K of very small diameter. The falling over to the wrong side of the stalks or ears is prevented by a shield, J, above the roller I. The beam E may be steadied or stiffened by a brace, L, which is fastenedto the axle-tree G. The beam F supports the journal-bearings of a number of rollers, M N, arranged in pairs, one of which, i

M, has a rib, m, in shape of a screwof very fast pitch, and the other of which has a groove, 12, of the same pitch but of reversed torsion, so that the rib m and groove a are always directly opposite when the rollers revolve in opposite directions. The object is to get the corn-ears between a pair of rollers, and, with the aid of the ribs m and grooves n, propel them to the other end of the roller pair, while they-are agitated and stripped of the husks by the knives 0 on the said rollers. To assist the propulsion of the ears the rollers M N are inclined down toward the off end. A bar, 0, fastened below the beam F, contains the journal-bearings of the rollers M and N of the one side, and a bar, 1, contains the journal-bearings of the other side, where an endless apron receives and carries away the ears to a bag or box, or anything that serves to collect them. The necessary motion for the apron Q is communicated to its upper roller g by a belt or rope, R, which passes over a grooved pulley, b, on the hub of the wheel B. The grooved end of the roller q is supported by a post, Q, which is fastened to the axle-tree O. The wheel B is provided with a toothed wheel, S, which drives the wheel T on the shaft t. A bevel-wheel, U, on the other end of the shaft t drives another bevel-wheel, V, on the shaft e, which, with the aid of bevel-gear V drives the bevel-gear O on the roller M. The rollers M and N are moved by a succession of gear-wheels, n, fastened to their ends. The shaft 11 carries a wheel, 0;, which drives a wheel, 20, on the extended journal end of the roller I, and the wheel W on the journal end of the roller I moves the wheel V on the journal end of the roller K. This mode of transmitting power may be modified in various ways, and is no part of the invention. The rollers M N are longitudinally inclosed by the boards 0 and 0 which keep the ears from falling over the rollers to the ground. The wheel A can be raised or lowered with its axle-plate c in a dovetailed slot in the post 0, which is fastened to the end of the axle-tree O. The lower part of the axle-plate c is fastened to a chain or rope, :20, which passes down around a pulley, 0 at the end of the post 0, and from there up onto a pulley, X, on the shaft X. The shaft X may be turned by the arm as and steadied in one of the notches y in the sector Y fastened to the axle-tree O. The said turning of the shaft X causes the elevating or lowering of the axle-tree O, and, consequently, of the guiderods G and H and of the rollers I and K, according to the size or height of the corn-stalks.

The basking-machine is constructed, in regard to the attachment of power, on the same principle as the harvesting machines. The

horses are attached near one end of the axletree, and the operation takes place at the other end near where the drag-wheel is placed.

The drivers seat is also where the shaft D is attached, and on the same place or side the power is received from the power-wheel B.

The principles of this construction are known to harvester men and need no explanation.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. The roller I, with the screw-shaped pro- 'pelling-plate i, diminishing and contracting into a shallow spiral groove, 6, and with the fluted cylindrical surface, in combination with the cylinder K, with partly-fluted cylindrical surface, the cylinder K being of comparatively small diameter to facilitate the nipping of the corn-ears, and also to prevent their being caught and mashed between said cylinders.

2. The combination, with the screw-shaped roller I, of the rollers M and N, arranged in pairs and provided with cutters or knives 0, and with spiral ribs m and spiral grooves 92, for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination of the post 0 fastened to the end of the axle-tree G, the sliding axleplate 0 the rope or chain as, the pulley c and the elevating shaft or indlass X, substantially as set forth;

In testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

LEONIDAS HAMILTON.

Witnesses:

A. ROBERTS, Jr., JAS. W. RODGERS. 

